My kids

I wanted to end my trip blogs with photos of my kids. We were gone over 2 weeks, with thousands of miles and many hours in the car, and they were both awesome the whole time. I'm not sure how many families would take on that long of a car trip with an almost 4 year old and a 3 month old, but I'm glad we did. No matter what we did on our trip, we enjoyed it because we got to spend that time with our kids. I really feel blessed to have Luke and Mia, and I'm not really sure what I ever did with my time and energy before they were around! So here are the last photos - just ones of my kids. I love the one of Luke at the zoo, because it shows him "reading." Lately he'll read things on his own - he'll follow the words with his fingers and use context clues to figure out what it's saying. So maybe it's not the exact words, but hey, he's using skills my third graders don't always use! The last one of Luke pretty much sums up how we were all feeling those last two days driving home. I even woke Marc up to capture it with the camera while I was driving

Chicago

We spent the last days of our trip in Chicago. We drove up there from Van Wert, and went to the Cubs game Monday, then spent Tuesday at the Navy Pier and just walking around the city for a little while. It was a perfect day out so we really got lucky our whole trip with the weather - with all of our outdoor plans, nothing ever got rained out. The first thing we did at the Navy Pier was go up in the huge Ferris Wheel - even Mia went! It was all enclosed, so please don't think we were being stupid for taking her! :) Luke loved it, and wasn't at all afraid of heights. Marc, on the other hand... After that, we just walked around the pier, and then went in to the Children's Museum. There, Luke got to drive an ambulance, play in water, and dig for dinosaur bones. We headed to Michigan Ave next, where we sat down to let Luke catch a nap and I got to go in a few stores. We took a long walk farther into town in hunt of Gino's East Pizza where we ate some good deep dish pizza, and that was about the end of our day. It was definitely worth making that side trip from Ohio, and made the trip home just a little bit shorter.

Family

I thought I'd add a few shots of some of the family moments I captured. I realize now I have none with my mom and dad... I'll have to capture a few while you're down visiting now! Check out the one of Luke elbowing Jake... had to put that one in. That's my boy!

Baseball Games

While on our trip, Marc and Luke went to 4 MLB games, while Mia and I went to two. First we all went to Cleveland with my mom and dad, so that was Mia's first game ever. She was so great at it, but then again, she's almost always great. There were great fireworks after the game so it was worth being there till midnight! Then Marc, Luke, and dad went to Pittsburgh. The hilight of that game for Luke was the river and the free Pirates plate set! While visiting Amy, Chris and Jacob joined the boys and went to Cincinnati for a Reds game. Finally, in Chicago, the 4 of us went to Wrigley Field, where the Astros happened to be playing. I'll try to put the photos in order, but if I mess up, I'm sure you can figure it out!!

Zoos

Here are the first photos from our journey up north. There's lots of photos to share, so keep checking back. I promise not to share all 200, but will do my best to give you a play by play of trip, because I know you all want to hear every detail!! :)

We went to two zoos - Cleveland and Ft. Wayne. Luke could go to a zoo every day I think and never get tired of seeing the animals! My friend Vickie and her family came with us and mom and dad to Cleveland, and we went with Amy's family to Ft. Wayne. In Ft. Wayne Luke and I rode a new sky lift they had, and he wasn't at all scared of it. Amy, however, was very willing to stay on the ground with Mia!

Home Finally

After over two weeks, 59 and a half hours in the car, and 3175 miles, we're home. We got in this afternoon and had every intention to get a lot of things done, and do something fun with Luke for his 4th birthday today, but then Marc has had an awful headache all afternoon and evening, and I've managed to pick up a fever today and felt pretty lousy for the most part. I have so many photos so I'll have to pick and choose what I share - relatives, zoos, baseball games, Chicago... I'm way too tired and achy to tackle it tonight but I'll try to put some on tomorrow. We had a good time, but I realize that we did so much that it seems we forgot to rest much, so we're going to need a few days to catch up on some sleep!

I loved showing Mia to family and friends who had never met her yet, and I got to catch up with two great friends - thanks Vickie and Darcy for making time for me!! I'm excited to crash in my own bed tonight. I always sleep better at home -especially after the pretty yucky hotel we ended up in last night! I read everyone else's blogs and I'll comment tomorrow.

We're off!

We are taking off tomorrow for our first trip of the summer. This will be the most interesting, as it's over 2 weeks long and we're driving the whole time! We will hopefully get to Stow Thursday sometime and stay through Tuesday. There we have plans to see the Indians, go to the zoo, and Marc, Luke, and dad will go see a Pittsburgh game too. Then we head out to Amy's for the rest of the week, where we'll see several of Jacob and Jenna's games, and then the boys are all going to Cincinnati to see another baseball game. We'll head to Chicago on the 11th, where we'll catch our last game at Wrigley Field, against the Astros!!, and then spend another day there and head home. So our trip requires a lot of driving, and a lot of baseball. Hopefully I'll get to see several of you at some point. Lori, I'm taking up precious car space with a shopping bag of maternity clothes, so hopefully we'll see you to pass those on! I'm not bringing them all though... just a few of the cuter ones.
In other news, I think it's finally stopped raining. It did rain this morning some, but no flooding with it. I took Mia to the doctor today because she hasn't been feeling too well, and found out she's getting over a stomach virus. So we're trying Soy formula (you're right Brenda, it does stink!) until we return because it'll be better on her stomach, especially with all the travelling.
You may hear from me along the way, but photos will have to wait until we return. Have a great few weeks everyone, and I'll see some of you soon!

Washed Away

It has been raining so much in Killeen the past few days - in fact, we got 15 inches the past 2 days! I took Luke out to play in the water for a while tonight, not realizing that at that same time across town there was a tornado! Probably not my best parenting moment. He had so much fun splashing around, and it reminded me of playing in our flooded street growing up.

I'm done!!!

The kids just left, and my school year is officially over! I am so glad. This year was my hardest and most challenging year, besides my first year, so it's good to finally be through with it. We get an extra long summer this year, and plan to make the most of it with several trips and lots of resting time lined up. It's the first summer really since I met marc that he's not looking for a new job, I'm not pregnant or having a baby, and we're not moving, so it will be much more restful. I am sad to see the year end though because with the end of the year comes the moving on of most of my grade level, and some very awesome friends. Next year my grade level will be completely different except for 2 of us, and it will be interesting to see how things go with all new people and no close friends left here. To those of you in KISD, congrats on your last day. To all the other teachers out there who aren't done yet, so sorry for you, but your day is coming soon! :) Happy Summer!!

Strong Girl!

Here's the newest Mia photos... she held her head up like this for so long the other night. Luke hasn't let me take any good photos of him to add yet, but I'll get one soon.

For mom

Ok mom, here's a lighter version of my photo... is that better? :)

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all moms and moms to be out there! I hope you have had a great day. My kids surprised me with quite a few gifts today - a Mom frame with their names engraved, a white gold bracelet with their names on it, and a spa day - massage, facial, manicure and pedicure. I must have been a good mom this year!

8 weeks already!

It's hard to believe Mia is 8 weeks old already. She has grown and changed so much. She's smiling, blowing bubbles, kicking a lot!, and sleeping about 8-9 hours at night! Here are some photos taken yesterday. We were all dressed up to go eat for my birthday so I wanted to get some cute photos of the kids. I forgot to get one with me in it though! And notice they are both sticking their tongues out at me? Nice.

Photos Finally!

Well, I figured out my camera, so here are some more recent photos for you all! The close ups of Mia are of her various stages of smiling at me. Her latest things are to smile and stick out her tongue. She also licks her bottle when she's full. The one of Luke - well, I have no idea why it was taken, but had to include my boy on here.

Back to Reality

Today I headed back to work. Augh. I am exhausted! It really wasn't too bad, becuase most of my trouble makers are gone. Can you believe that my third grade class alone has lost 4 boys to alternative school (behavior school) this year? We maybe have had an average of 1 each year, if that. 17 and a half more days of kids left! Mia stayed home with Marc due to some daycare issues - she'll start next week - so that made it much easier to head back, and then they visited at lunch today!

I apologize for being a bad blogger, but things have been crazy lately. And, I still can't get photos on my blog from my new camera, so those will come soon when I get a clue how to do it.

Please continue to keep Amy's sister-in-law Becca in your thoughts and prayers. This past week has been so hard on her and her family, and I can't imagine being them and going through the ups and downs of the days since her surgery.

I feel very blessed to have my children right now, healthy and safe with me. It's so easy to get distracted in life by the little things that truly don't matter, and seeing Amy and Chris and their family going through what they've been through this past week makes me remember how important family is, and how I need to be grateful daily for our health and happiness. That's what matters.

Hello!

I am writing just to prove a point to my Aunt Nancy that I am alive and blogging! And if she'd look, I did post 2 times after Amy was here! There hasn't been many exciting things going on, so I'll just post the most interesting highlights of the week:
1. Mia is doing great. She's recovering from her baby acne spell, and now is just really dry with some red spots. Yet, she's still a cutie! She went 7 hours between feedings the other night which was great, until last night when she was up most of the night. Not crying really, but just "talking" very noisily for a long time! She's a talker already. She's so alert, holds her head up, and smiles a lot at us!
2. Today some pottery people came to the house to make a clay plaque with Mia's hand/foot print in it. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed talking with the couple, and learning about their life. It's nice to run into neat people unexpectedly. I was a little sad to see them leave! The man commented on how strong Mia is too, as he was trying hard to unclench her fist to make a hand print.
3. I shopped at IKEA yesterday for quite a while, and came out with some Orange curtains for my bedroom. Way cool.
4. I got a new camera! Part of the reason I haven't put photos on is because I have to figure it out still. It's red too - very neat. I had a pale purple version first, but that color wasn't manly enough for Marc I guess.
5. Mia had her first real bath the other night because her cord finally fell off!
6. Bunnies - that's the saga of the day. I heard Molly and the neighbor dogs going nuts earlier this afternoon so I went outside and found Molly with a baby bunny in her mouth, and another laying off to the side. She and the other dogs had found a nest and Molly was able to reach it. So, being the crazy animal lover that I am (anyone remember the Klein Ave. bunny-that-I-hit incident earlier in life??) I felt the need to rescue them. Now, they weren't fuzzy little bunnies - they were brand new, mouse-looking, no fur, umbilical cords still hanging off - bunnies. I have a feeling they were just born today and that's why the dogs took notice. So I loaded them and Mia up and took those 2 to the vet. One didn't make it. Then after explaining all this to Marc, and not finding any more bunnies, we put bricks up around it and ate dinner. But, I look out and Molly moved the brick and found two more! So we enlisted the help of the internet and our neighbors and made a new nest for those two and hope they survive! The neighbor boy said he'll check on them in the morning and we'll see if they are still alive. And a little known bunny fact... mom bunnies feed their babies for 5 minutes, twice a day, and are gone the rest of the time. Boy, what I wouldn't give for Mia to only want to eat 10 minutes a day right now! :)

One month old

Today Mia is one month old. I can't believe how much she's changed and grown in just this little time! This week she's decided to cry/fuss any time she's not being held with a pacifier in her mouth, and is sleeping very little. That's been fun. She's also experiencing a bit of baby acne... not so cool, but I know she's not the first baby to have it! Here are a few more photos from the past week. We were glad to have snow, because then we got to see the Easter bunny's footprints!

Is it April in Texas, or January in Ohio??

I remember years ago having a snow day on mom's birthday - April 6th - in Ohio, and even that was a little rare. However, snow in Texas, in April? Not heard of. Snow in January in Texas isn't even a usual occurrence! Today we left Marc's parents' house in Bryan, TX, where it was 41 degrees and sleeting/raining. As we drove the 2 hours home to Killeen, the temp kept dropping and the rain gradually turned to snow. By the time we reached Killeen, it was 33 degrees and snowing - hard! It was big, wet snow. So, as soon as we got home, we all changed and went out to play! I was pretty surprised that noone else was out playing in the snow too. It reminded me of Ohio winters... not Texas springs! Just Tuesday it was almost 90, and I got a slight sunburn. I wanted to capture the bluebonnets covered in snow, but don't have any right by the house. Here are some photos from our little blizzard. Not the best photos - hard to capture good shots when the snow is huge and your 3 year old won't stand still since he's rarely gotten to play in snow! I love Marc's expression in the photo of him laughing, so had to add that one. And yes, we put our one month old baby in the snow. I promise she was wrapped well and only out there for a minute! We had to have a photo of her in her first snow. The only problem with playing in the snow for us is that we have no gloves, so our poor hands were very red and freezing!

Mia, 3 weeks